Road To E3: Will Destiny 2 Appear?

With E3 just a few days away, our Road to E3 endeavor puts the focus onto Bungie's Destiny. While we know the new expansion will be touted and revealed, but what are the chances of seeing the first glimpse of next year's Destiny 2?

[If you haven’t already, check out our previous Road To E3 articles (Horizon and Team Wish List) to find the latest scoop on games we hope to see. ]

What We Know:

Destiny 2 was scheduled to be released this year. According to an agreement leaked by Activision and Bungie, the first game released in 2014, had an expansion in 2015, and the leak noted a full follow up title was set for 2016. Bungie would then follow the bi-yearly schedule.

Things were on track to do just that until recently. According to Activision, the game was delayed until a 2017 release. Since that announcement things got worse. Destiny 2 was “rebooted” in the studio and some key members of the production have left Bungie. Instead the Destiny 2 slot has changed to a new expansion titled Rise of Iron.

Will It Be At E3:

The sad (yet good) news is that Destiny Rise of Iron news is coming tomorrow, Thursday, instead of at E3.

The disappointing part of this is that Destiny probably won’t even be at E3 at all, other than some demo units in Sony’s booth. Activision currently has no conference and they normally utilize Microsoft and Sony conferences to showcase new surprises. The problem is having two products basically compete against each other. It makes no sense to announce a big expansion tomorrow, then a new game next week.

Slim Chance It Will Still Arrive:

There is still a chance that Destiny 2 arrives and surprises everyone. According to reports the game is set to release before E3 2017, so if it is a Q1 2017 title we very well could see it.

Perhaps the expansion is a smaller announcement than what they have planned for E3, thus an early reveal is necessary. Activision has a current deal with Sony for timed content on both Call of Duty and Destiny, if this deal continues with Destiny 2 then we could see a surprise at the Sony conference. (If the deal flipped, we could see it at Microsoft’s)

However there are two factors.

The first is when the Rise of Iron content releases. Rumors have it set for a Fall release, but if posters and marketing material are already being sent out, then that means Activision is treating it as a major release. It’s going to be a big expansion, but if this much effort is going into it then I would assume a new game won’t release right after. So if the expansion releases in the Fall (say October-November) then I don’t think Destiny 2 sees a Q1 release. Marketing would collide between the two, and the expansion would steal pre-orders. If the expansion is instead set to release soon, this summer or by August, I think a Q1 release is still possible. Of course, Activision may not have much faith in the expansion due to slipping Destiny numbers, and may want to push Destiny 2 harder to regain those numbers.

The second factor is what exactly got rebooted and what changed in production. I highly doubt Bungie scrapped everything and started from ground zero, but I do think some major changes have been made. A big delay to Destiny 2, with the release of a new expansion, is not an easy decision to make. That being said if the game is still mostly together we could see a teaser trailer at E3 which will allow Activision to start taking pre-orders for the game. The title could then release in Fall of 2017.

Another situation that arises that has nothing to do with Bungie or Activision is where they will place it. Often times Activision will utilize both Microsoft and Sony conferences to announce different games. Call of Duty over here, and Destiny over there. If Sony has an agreement for both titles still, will Sony have enough room in their conference to show off both? Chances are that is a yes considering Sony has been showing off their games early (Gran Turismo and Horizon: Zero Dawn were both showcased already) so some slots had to have opened up.